FCAA: Foster Care Alumni of America

Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA) is a relatively new national non-profit organization hoping to transform the lives of children, youth and adults who share the foster care experience by connecting us into a well-supported and organized community and ensuring we become a powerful, collective voice of change for both individuals and the whole foster care system.�

Foster Care Alumni of America is a 501c-3, non-profit organization that brings together the knowledge, experience, and strength of alumni of foster care in the U.S. in order to improve the lives of all people in and from foster care. At FCAA we believe that the firsthand knowledge alumni have of the foster care system gives us an expertise that can be a powerful tool for improving foster care policies and practices.�

At FCAA the voices of alumni join with that of other child welfare experts in order to enhance research, planning and implementation of approaches in today's foster care system. FCAA provides alumni and our allies with a way to share our experiences and enrich the lives of the nearly 519,000 children and youth in care right now.

A review of child welfare data and various social work textbooks indicates that there are roughly 12 million American adults who experienced foster care at some point in their childhood. The foster care system currently provides service to nearly 800,000 children per year-with approximately 519,000 children and youth living within foster care at any given point in time. The alumni group is estimated to be growing at a rate exceeding one-quarter million (250,000) per year.

The U.S. spends $22 billion dollars ($5 billion from the Federal government and the balance from state/county governments) to provide services for children and youth in foster care. This averages out to $40,000 per child.

120,000 children and youth a year have had TPR (terminate parental rights) occur and are eligible for adoption but continue to remain in the system due to lack of adoptive families�

Averages of 20,000 youths are aging out of the system per year.�